Molded pulp article



March I, 1932. E. L. SHEPARD ET AL 1,843,066

MOLDED PULP ARTICLE Filed July 12, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet l 1 bayou/ion! m 1:..s7 am 01a: .E'a: ell

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.March 1, 1932.

E. L. SHEPARD ETAL MOLDED PULF'ARTICLE Filed July 12, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Eel/fitting lrlwstldi'll epa 'd Jolua GEM-ska]! Patented Mar. 1, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ERNEST 1.. snnraim-or :snmrmnn, m JOHN G. nasxnma, or BATH, ma, A8-

SIGNORS, BY mnsNn ASSIGNMENTS, 'ro FIDELITY rmrsrcomrA Y, raos'rnn, or PORTLAND, MAINE, a CORPORATION or MAINE 1 Norman PULP szarrcnn Application filed July 12, 1929. Serial No. 377,849.

Of the many difl'erent kinds of plates, dishes and trays in use at present, some of them are divided, into one or more compartments or divisions in order that diiferent kinds of food can be definitely separated' within the container, dish, tray, or plate.

These have been made-of china or other 'sim--- ilar ware in a manner similar to the ordinary plates and dishes used for table service.

In order to eliminate the cleaning and washing qf these dishes or trays, they are sometimes lined with paper or other similarmaterial which fits in a general way over the partitions or receptacles in the plate or dish, and which liner can be thrown away after use. v

Attempts have been made to produce and use divided containers by ressing them from a sheet ofpaper or boar wrinkling or corrugating .those sections where superfluous stock was present. These wrinkles or corru tegral art of the plate or dish structure and gations have, of course, little strength and any plate or dish so formed'is not able to sup-.

- port the amount of food orother material be fitted.

to sib eto make the dividing sections of any which would be placed in it. This led to the development of supporting trays or dishes within which the paper plates or dishes could Aside from their lack of strength, however, these partitioned or divided containers from a sheet of board or pa r were unsatisfacin another respect in that it was imposgreat depth or heightowing to the difiiculty of'dijsposing of the folded stock from the-flat sheet-without tearing'or otherwise-making the final article unusable, and consecf uently the partitioned or, divided container'o paper or board never met withfavor in the trade.

Various containers or trays of metal having partitionsor other separating sections have been devised for food service. With themetal. tra however, the metal may be stretched uring the formation of the parti-' tions which keeps the'structure intact, whereas if paper or pressed board is used the formation of the partitions results in either a tear or fold 7 depending upon the direction in which the material is stretched.

In order to overcome the objections mentioned hereinabove, we have devised our,

present invention. According to it we provide a partitioned plate, dish, tray, or other container which is molded from wet laid pulp. Such a partitioned container is not only capable of supportin food or other material which may be place in it without danger of breaking or bending, but also provides ood com artments or spaces of suflicient depth an partitions separating these compartments of suflicient height so that a 'suflicient amount of food or other material can be placed in the'compartments without danger of commin lin with any other articles of food placed in a jacent compartments. Our partitioned plate, dish, tray or other 'container is moreover molded in one piece and without excessive thickness so that no surplus stock has to befolded over or otherwise disposed of, makin a weak place in the article, the partitions being molded as an inheight and strength of partition never attained. in theold style pressed or stamped paper plate, where the partitions were but little more than surface wrinkles contributing nothing to the stiffness of the plate or the adequate separation of the various articles of food.

Thepartitions of our plate are of appreciable height and define distinct andseparated food compartments within which the various articles of food are maintained separated under all-conditions or use of the plate. Moreover, they cooperate with each other and with the plate rim in such a way as to secure that stifl'ness and rigidity so essential in a plate of this character. Our partiand strengthen the plate in several directions so that even when fully loaded, the late may begrasped at its rim and lifted without danger of buckling upon itself and spilling its contents.

In our partitioned plate, dish, tray, or other tions act as horizontal trusses, which stifi'en I container, the rimis not only strengthened and stiffened by the integral partitions,but the rim itself is formed with a reinforced edge and with a channel section which makes for increased strength and rigidity. Such rim is higher than the partitions which brace and strengthen it, but its angularity is less than the angularity oi the wall of the food compartments. The dividing partitions are of inverted V-shape soas to enable the articles to nest upon each other, thus following general practice as re ards the packaging and shipment of molded pulp articles.

It is obvious, of course, that. while the drawings illustrate a round plate or dish divided into three compartments, that these can be made of any shape and divided into any numberof compartments. For instance, the article might be square or rectangular, divided into two, four or more equal or unequal compartments by partitions. It also might be in the form of a tray divided into any number of equal or unequal spaces of any depth which might be necessary for the pur ose. The

drawings therefore are to be regar ed as illustrative' rather than limiting. In them:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a partitioned plate in accordance with our invention.

Fig. 2 is a section on theline 2-2, of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the plate shown in Fig. 1. V V

' Fig. 4 is a section on the line4l, of Fig. 3.

' Fig. 5 is a view illustrating the nestability I of such plates.

" Fig. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary view particularly showing the channel section formation of the plate rim.

Fig. 7 is a top plan viewshowing a modification wherein the spaces at the juncture of the dividing partitions with the rim are depressed suiiiciently to afford compartments for the reception of butter, salt, pep er, salad dressing, or the like, which might as concomitants to the articles of food contained in the main food compartments, and

Fig. 8 is a section on the line 8-8, of Fig. 7

Our plate, dish, tray," or other container is preferably die molded from any suitable pulp solution, or solutions, by methods and on machines which have now become standard in the art. As such it is composed of one or more deposits of wet laid fibre indicated generally at Fwhich may be grease and waterproofed if desired in any suitable manner. When formed, ressed and dried, it is, a one piece article 0 molded pulp pre senting a bottom 1, a side wall 2, a rim 3 and an edge 4. The bottom 1 is transversely sub-divided by one or more partitions or ribs 5 which are molded up therefrom as separating divisions, preferably of inverted V shape. These ribs define with each other and with the enclosing side wall 2 a plurality of definite and distinct compartments for the reception various articles, of food, which served compartments are separated from each other i of the dividing artitions may be varied as desired, but in t e forms selected herein as illustrative of the principles of our invention, we have shown a round plate or dish embodied into three distinct and separate compartments A, B and C, the compartment A-occupying approximately 144 of the circle at one side of the transverse median line of the plate, and the compartments B and C occupying approximately 108each at the opposite side of such median line. These dimenslons, of course, are arbitrary as are the number and arrangement of compartments, but are representative of a com artment'arrangement which has been foun satisfactory forthe purposes intended.

In the forms illustrated herein the division ribs'orpartitions 5 merge into each other as indicated at 6 and into the side wall 2 1 of the plate or other article at a plurality of spaced points about the circumference thereof as indicated at 7 Such ribs or partitions are of appreciable height, being in fact preferably of the sameheight as the enclosing side wall 2, and as such define with said wall and with each 0th compartments of sufiicient depth adequatel to receive and maintain separated the various articles of food laced in said compartments. These partitions, therefore, are in no sense mere surface wrinkles, as in the pressed paper liners of the rior art, but on the contrary are definite dividin members which space and maintain space the various articles of food in the difi'erent compartments under any and all normal conditions of use of the plate. I

In addition to their function as separating. partitions sub-dividing the plate or other article into one or more individual food service compartments, such ribs also constitute.

trusses which strengthen and stifien the plate or other article against buckling or bending when loaded with food and grasped and lifted by its rim.

In this connection, it will be noted that the partitions 5 are not only integral with the article bottom but with the article rim itself,

thus providing the maximum stifiness and rigidity. It will also be noted that the partitions 5 and enclosing side wall 2 are disosed at approximately the same angle to the bottom and that such angle isa relatively steep one, bein in fact about whilethe rim 3, althoug -itself higher than the wall 2 and partitions 5 is disposed at a lesser angle to the bottom, being in fact about 26 'lhis results in a construction combining formations, however, and the combinative remaximum depth of compartment consistent with requisite strength of rim. This will be apparent from the diagram of Fig. 6 wherein the so-called channel section formation inthe rim is graphically illustrated. Referring to this figure it will be seen that the area of .the rim included between the indicated lines of perpendicular intercept and identified by the reference character S is in efli'ect a structural section of channel form and that the rim edge 4: is a reinforced edge being bent slightly downwardly in masking relation to the under face of the plate. This results i in a strength of rim not possible where the rim simply extends as a flat encircling border, and in combination with the trussing and bracing eifect of the stiffening partitions 5 enables the plate when loaded to be grasped and lifted by its rim without liability of buckling or. collapse.

Such a rim moreover, in combination with the inverted V shape of thepartitions peculiarly adapts the plates. for nesting. This is shown in Fig. 5, wherein a stack of our nested plates ready for packaging is illustrated. In connection with this nesting feature, it will be noted that our plates may be nested closelywithin each other without requiring the formation on the plates themselves of some kind of a centering boss on which the bottom of the next above article in the stack may rest.

' In the modification of our invention shown in Figs. 7 and 8, the ribs 5 at their juncture with the rim 3 are slightly depressed as indicated at 8 to serve as compartments for the reception of such concomitants as butter, salt, pepper, salad dressing, etc.

These compartments 8 are of less depth than the main compartments A, B and C, and

are disposed between such main compartments, being in fact simply shallow depressions formed in the upper faces of the 'partitions at their juncture with the run 3, such partltions at. these points being enlarged somewhat so that the compartments 8 will be of adequate area for thepurposes intended;

It will thus be noted that we provide a serviceable partitioned plate, dish, tray, or other container which can be made from'wet pulp by usual dis-molding methods and without costly chan es in material or thickness due to the addition of some new strengthening material in the pulp or some impractical thickness in thearticle itself. Such parti tioned articles can be molded, dried, stacked,

and packaged in the same manner and on the same machines now generally used in the pro duction of the usual molded pulp plates and dishes.

Our partitioned plate,rdish, tray -or other container is not only of substantially uniform thickness, but such thickness is no greater than that of the-ordinary molded pulp plate or dish. By reason of its partition and mm lation of these formations to each other our container possesses a strength and rigldity not present in an unpartitioned plate or dish, and as such ofiers an article of real utility and superiority.

The compartments A, B and C are relative- 1y deep compartments. By this we mean t at they are of sufiicient depth to maintain separated from each other under all usual conditions of service the various articles of food placed therein. As such they are to be distinguished from the food spaced of the pressed paper dish where the subdividing ribs or partitions were mere surface wrinkles of about inch in height and hence of no real effect in maintaining separated thGVfiIlOllS articles of food placed in such spaces.

Our compartments A, B and C are considerably deeper than such spaces of the pressed paper dish, being in fact about three times as dee thus aflI'ording a depth of compartment su cient to prevent improper commingling of the various articles of food in the 4 use of the plate. 3

Various modifications in the design and construction of our invention may obviously be resorted to and all without departing from the spirit of our invention it within the appended claims.

What we therefore claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1'. A food container of fibrous material,

consisting of a deposit of pul of substantially uniform thic ness shape to provide a bottom portion, a rim enclosing the same, and a p urality of integral hollow ribs extending upwardly a substantial distance from said bottom portion and merging into said rim at their outer ends, said ribs defining with said bottom and rim and with each other a plurality of food compartments and acting as strengthening and stiffening elements for the container.

2. A food, container of fibrous material, consisting of a de osit of pul of substantially uniform thickness shape to rovide a bottomportion, a rim enclosing t e same,

other container for storage purposes.

3. A container. of fibrous material, consisting of a deposit of pulp of substantially uniform thickness shaped to provide bottom portions, side wall portions extending upwardly from said bottomportions and a ri enclosing said side wallportions, and a p urality of integral hollow ribsyextending .upwardly from said bottom 'porticns and merging into said side walls at their outer ends and of substantially the same height as said side walls, said ribs defining with said bottom portions and sidewalls and with each -other a plurality of. com artments, and acting as strengthening an stiffening elements for the container. 7

4. A blue late of fibrous material, consisting of a eposit of pulp of substantially uniform thickness shaped to provide bottom portions side wall portions extending up! wardly rom said bottom portions and a rim enclosln said side wall portions, and a plu- 15 ralit o integral hollow ribs extending up war ly from said bottom portions and mer ing into said side walls at their outer ends and of substantially the same height as said side walls, said ribs defining with said botg0 tom portions and side walls and with eaclother a plurality of compartments, and act ing asistrengthening and stiffening elements for the container said side wall portions and rim being of' different angularity as to each 5 other.

tures.

ERNEST L. SHEPARD. v JOHN G; HASELL.

In testimony whereof we afiixour signa-' 

